Azathioprine for pemphigus and pemphigoid—a 4 year follow‐up

This is a 4 year follow‐up report of our experience of azathioprine therapy in pemphigus and pemphigoid. Azathioprine produced prolonged control of the diseases in most of our twenty patients. Serious side‐effects such as leukopenia were unusual, and infection was not a problem. Two of our twelve patients with pemphigoid died of cancer within 2 years of starting azathioprine. Some authors suspect that pemphigoid is related to occult or overt malignancy, and our present observation draws attention to the possibility that the risk of disseminated malignancy may be greater in patients with pemphigoid treated with immunosuppressive drugs than it would be in other non‐transplant patients similarly treated.

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